Wednesday, December 19, 2012

True Gourmand.

Food is one of the three single most important aspects of life. (Water/wine/coffee and family/friends/community being the other two.)So why does it seem that so few are willing to take a good hard honest examination of what they are eating? The old adage "You are what you eat" is more true now than ever.
Hunh? you might say, casually nodding yes, but at the same time realizing this is me saying it so it's about to get weird....

Glad you asked!

What is food then? An apple? A cow? Salt? Yup... To generalize; plants or animals that contain the vitamins, minerals, fluids and fats needed to sustain one's physical and mental growth and well being, with the occasional mineral supplement... So, to simplify this (and still not be woefully inaccurate); plants and animals... but wait, don't the animals need to eat the plants for food (or other animals)? so really food is just plants... and plants are just seeds (genetic material), water, and a big complicated thing called fertilizer (phosphates, nitrogen, etc. etc.), and sunlight.

So.......... Here is were the scary begins.

Up until roughly a hundred years ago, food was exactly that. A plant; fed water and sunlight that sucked up the fertilizers it needed from the soil it was planted in (yes, for all you sticklers out there, humans have been adding shit and other things to soil for thousands of years, but hang in there if you can't already see where i'm going with this). And that soil, by naturally occurring processes of microbial respiration, contained the minerals like nitrogen and phosphates, etc...

With the industrial revolution came the era of truly synthetic, manufactured fertilizers...

No longer were relatively unprocessed materials good enough, like cow & chicken shit, eggshells, crop waste, or fields left to fallow efficient enough for the modern era... no! industry was the answer! just recycling agrarian waste for the purpose of the next crop wasn't "efficient enough." No... let's mine a quarry to build a factory, to kiln the bricks to make another factory, that will require a few old growth forests to be 'harvested' so we can burn those to fuel the fires of more factories which will require massive input of more raw materials to make the chemical equivalent of shit, all in the name of creating jobs for all those independent farmers and craftsman that didn't really need them in the first place... All in the name of what can now be considered the goal of meaningless overpopulation of the planet, sooooooooooooo, we all are entitled to that much less of the same overall pot... that pot being the mathematical remainder of Earth's natural supply... so let's overdraw that back account, only to be pissed and confused when we cannot pay that metaphorical credit card bill with the very same card... retarded yet?.. or just suicidal?.. or maybe willfully & blindly destructive?.. can you feel the weight?

Ever heard of Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle?" Maybe you should, if you don't already...

But closer to my point, which of these two historical scenarios sounds more appetizing? Your food from food waste, or your food from...? Wait what the hell do they make "fertilizer" from in those factories anyway?

In all honesty, there are many names now for all the little bits and potions that are used to rapidly synthesize natural compounds... but if you want to cut all the chemical and politically correct mumbo jumbo out, petrochemicals provide the bulk of the base... geeeee, i wanna suck on a cucumber that has only been fed hydrocarbon chains for the whole of its existence... yummy!
So, choke on that.

You are what you eat; recycled life (good), or a goo consisting of radiation and nonrenewable oil (icky).
Remember the pink goo that way too few knew about until recently? Yup just the tip of the iceberg. Just the tip.

And yes there really is no philosophic gap between food and sex... try living (in the long run, including having kids or being born) without one or the other...

Yet, Jeff G, (in the Big Chill) would add rationalization to that list... and that is the failing precedent set by previous generations... I don't need an excuse or an easy answer, or a coping mechanism, I DEMAND ANSWERS AND ACTUAL PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY!!!

DAMN YOU FOLDING HIPPIE BASTARDS FOR SHORTCHANGING ME OUT OF A CHANSE AT AN HONEST AND PRODUCTIVE LIFE!

I am not one to normally attempt to shirk personal responsibility, but what could I have done to make the world as I see fit... before I was even born?

I just wish i could find a place, or a group, or just one person that could give me just the tiniest hope that it's all for not and beyond my ability to influence....

So again, comment. share. ask. challenge. and judge not without trying to see the other side first... help me beat these suicidally ravenous bastards at their own game without loosing sight of what you are striving for... your life, and the life of the children and future you know deep down you hope to have. I raise the black flag of the jolly roger in defiance and defense of my own right to survive! And for a start, I would like one apple in the proverbial field to not be a parable to snow white's slumber...